Loom



May 1927 J. 5. T.ODD

LOOM

Filed Oct. 2, 1926 A TTOR/V E Y INVENTOR,

Patented May 24, 1927.

UNITED,- STATES JOHN s. TODD, or rmwtnv; rnN vsvLvanIa Loom. x

i Application fi1ed0ctober 2, 1926,- S eria1'No. 139,026. i

This invention relates to looms and par ticularly to looms for weaving the finer grades of fabrics where lack of uniformity' in the weaving, particularly with respect to" the spacing of the weft, and the preservation ofthe weft without injury-inthe weaving areof vital importance in order to obtain goods of .a. superior quality. -The invention, briefly stated, Consists in subjecting the sheet'of warp and woven fabric to the pressure of yielding means maintaining a bend thereinv between the fell of the fabr1c and the beating-up means. Ordinarily the sheet extends over an unyielding means (the breast-beam) between the take-up and beating-up means, and one consequence of this is that in the quick tautening reaction of the sheet after each beating-up the fibres of the woven goods undergo an incising action effected by the sand particles of the sandroller of the take-up means, and if this results in a severing of the weft thread a very perceptible blemish in the goods will be present. Another consequence is the production of so-called set-marks, i. e., streaks extending crosswise of the goods and existing as too dense packing of shots of the weft due to failure to set the fell of the cloth, after a picking-back, precisely where it was before stoppage of the loom to accomplish the picking-back occurred. Another consequence is the production of crosswise streaks which are incident to the filling varying throughout its length in gage, so that in the length of the cloth the density or closeness of packing of the filling or weft is not uniform.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the takeup, let-off and beating-up means and the breast-beam structure of a loom embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan, showing the breast-beam structure, and. beating-up means and a fragment of the sheet of warp and woven fabric; 7

Fig. 3 is a front-to-rear section of the improved breast-beam, illustrating a slight modification; and

Figs. 4 and 5 a side elevation thereof and a section on line 5-5, Fig. 4:.

The breast-beam is indicated at 1. The take-up means is represented by a sandroller 2, having as usual the two guiderollers 3 associated therewith so as to maintain a bend in the fabric portion A of the sheet of warp and woven fabric that is in contact with the major part of its circumference'; the take-up means is of the usual class includingfwell known mechanism (not shown) forrotating the sand roller at a constant rate, as intermittently in equalincrements. The beating-up means is represented by the usual forwardly and backwardly reciprocating batten structure 4 including a reed 5 to serveasthe actual beating-up medium. The let-off means includes the warp-beam 6 on which the warp Bis ,wound and a'braking device of well known type which, while exerting a backward pull on the aforesaid sheet, undergoes slippage intermittently to permit the beam to turn forward and pay out the warp, the same consisting of a flexible element 7 having a suitable number of turns about the beam and at its rearward end a tension-maintaining weight 8 and at its forward end a lighter weight 9 which occasionally touches the floor and so effects the mentioned slippage.

Usually there is a roller 10 journaled in the breast-beam at its front upper edge, or approximately at the position shown in the drawing. This roller, according to that example of my invention shown in the drawing. is resisted by elastic means thus:

Theloom-frame uprights 11 in which the breast-beam isfixedly mounted are formed near the top with horizontal slots 12 opening forward, and in these are received the trunnions 10 of the roller 10, the bottom of each slot preferably having a hardened wearplate 13 on which the corresponding trunnion is directly supported. In each'slot and between its closed end and the trunnion is a heavy spiral spring 14. Whenthe loom is operating the effect of the tension imposed on the sheet of warp and woven fabric by the let-off and take-up means acting against each other is to repress the roller 10 against and so hold the springs l compressed; in other words said roller becomes a yielding support or means maintaining a bend. in the sheet between the fell A of the fabric and the sand-roller. One result of this is that each time a beating-up of weft C to the fell occurs, with some displacement forward of the fabric A due to the pressure of the reed, the slack which would otherwise ensue in the portion of the fabric between the reed and sand roller is taken up by the springs, and so it is not free, when the reed suddenly recedes, to snap back, as it were, to a state of tau-mess, with consequent damage to the fabric caused by the rough surface of the sand-roller; in other words, tension is maintained between the reed and sand-roller. If, for any reason, whether because of an inac curate resetting of thesh'eet after a pickingback or because the weft is over-thick in dif ferent parts of its length, there would exist streaks in the fabricwhen woven under ordinary conditions such will be avoided in a 100m equipped with my invention for the reason that the springs are a factor assisting the reed at themoment of beating-up to overcome the rearward pull of the let-elf means, and where the weft would otherwise become packed too closely the sheet yields forwardly under the pressure of the reed so that the spacing of the weft is kept uniform.

15 designates the usual shuttle for laying in the shots of filling and 16 the harness to form the sheds to receive the filling carried therethrough by the shuttle in the usual way.

In existing looms the slots 12 may be formed in the breast-beam itself as shown in Fig. 2 by forming an angular recess 18 therein to flank each end of the roller 10 and securing a plate 19 to the breast-bearn in overhangingrelation to each such recess.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In combination, a fixed supporting structure including a breast-beam, a roller contiguous to and parallel with the breastbeam, let-off means back of the roller, takeup means beneath the roller, the sheet of warp and woven fabric being adapted to extend forward from the let-off means, around the roller and down to the take-up means and elastic means yieldingly supporting the roller on said structure against the pressure of said sheet when the latter is tautened.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

'JOHN s TODD. 

